The Praxis of Cybernetic Federalism, in this case, refers to the daily functioning of Cybernetic Federalism within Kaltovar as distinguished from the theoretical framework that exists in ideological leaflets and academic circles.
GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE
TOP LEVEL: The Court of Supreme Justice is tasked with resolving appeals that have passed through all previous layers of court, with handling important precedent-setting litigation, high profile cases, and with ensuring the protection of civil rights in Kaltovar. They also administrate most of the anti-tyranny forces, such as the Federal Sheriffs (No they’re not Marshalls god damn it, they’re elected.) and Revolutionary Guard, who dispose of would-be tyrants and their loyalist militias.
TOP LEVEL: The TEMPEST Council is the executive branch of government. It consists of a large and slowly growing council of party-appointed and publicly elected officials holding absolute power between them. Most matters are decided by majority votes, but certain Councilors have special jurisdiction over unique areas of responsibility. This council has all the powers of a dictator between them, if they can agree to use it, which they often don’t.
MID LEVEL: The People’s Council is a group of elected officials responsible for proposing new laws and voting on their implementation. These laws, if passed by the council, are automatically enacted unless specifically nullified by a majority vote of the TEMPEST Council.
MID LEVEL: The ministries each have high degrees of authority in their respective areas, able to propose laws directly for a vote to the TEMPEST Council as long as those laws are closely related to the function of that specific ministry. They are often left to their own devices to govern their respective areas, with only occasional input from other branches of government.
BOTTOM LEVEL: Provincial and city governments are elected by locals using a ranked choice method. Local governments can hold a special citizens petition with a 75% majority of votes to nullify most Federal laws unless a higher level of government passes a resolution to specifically veto or abolish that action. These citizens petitions can happen repeatedly, and higher levels of government must either accept them or repeatedly stage debates about them and then deny them. Denying too many Citizens Petitions can take up a lot of the People’s Council’s time, and so unless it is truly egregious, they will often avoid vetoing these. This provides a pressure release valve before revolution for laws that are universally detested in a local area.
BOTTOM LEVEL: Local Soviets (Workers councils) control the collective industries and appoint industry leaders according to democratic vote. They also function as independent labor unions for those jobs that still require sentient laborers. They can halt production to bargain for better terms. The TEMPEST Council can bring in the military to replace them temporarily, but it needs a 2/3rds majority vote repeated on a week by week basis to do so. This means that workers can halt production and bargain for better terms, but if they are being completely unreasonable the central government can use soldiers to do their work instead. The aim is to strike a balance between the needs of the nation as a whole, and the workers of each factory. In those industries which are not collectively run and operate on a market model, the Soviets still function as labor unions.
BOTTOM LEVEL: The Chasma Merchantum (Chamber of commerce) advocates for the interests of the publicly traded and privately run businesses and their owners and shareholders. Because these entities are banned from behind the scenes lobbying, all of it must be carried out in public and on the record during filmed public meetings. This organization has no official power, and it is the only approved way for privately owned and publicly traded businesses operating within Kaltovar to communicate with most government officials. It involves itself in legal disputes related to private industry and provides the official perspective of independent industry leaders.
There are also various special administrative bodies which aren’t bound by the normal rules*
CORE PRINCIPLES
There are several beliefs which the Cybernetic Federalist movement have enshrined in law: ** Importance of science and education:** Science is the guiding principle of the state, the vine on which the grapes of civilization grow, and the means of determining truth. Education is the bedrock upon which science is built. Without science, civilization withers and dies. Without education, the scientific establishment descends into quackery. Science and education are two of the states most fundamental concerns.
Universal Basic Income: Because the Cyberneticized economy requires a lower ratio of laborers, unemployment through no fault of one’s own is common. To prevent the social decay which would normally accompany this, each person is entitled to receive a share of the profits of the whole nation. In this way, each person is a common owner of those means of production which are controlled by the state. ** Freedom from poverty:** Individuals have a right to be free from starvation, homelessness, ignorance, and disease. This is addressed through public meal services, housing, education, and healthcare.
Freedom of private behavior: No behavior between private, consenting adults is the business of the state unless one of the participating parties requests that it be made the state’s business.
Maximum practical freedom of speech: Government interference in speech and free expression is dangerous. Only direct calls to violence or abridgement of civil rights, provable lies in media (not falsehoods alone), revenge porn, and CSAM should be prohibited.
Freedom of thought: No law may be established which governs thoughts or establishes penalties for thinking improperly.
Bodily Autonomy: A person has a right to control their own body and what happens to it, unless they are currently institutionalized for their own safety, for as long as that person is alive. After death, their body may be repurposed for its energy content unless they have religious objections.
Regulation and surveillance of trade: Markets have been essential to every effective government in the world. Even those nominally communist nations which have survived have, for the most part, eventually adopted a system of markets allowing for limited private ownership. However, while private ownership and publicly traded assets can not be completely stamped out, these activities can be regulated or even the property repossessed in whole or part on an individual basis should their activities become detrimental to their workers or the nation as a whole. The operation of any private or publicly traded entity should serve the interests of the state and its citizens. Their owners and controllers can not be allowed to gain undue influence over the government or society at large. To this end, private companies must be closely monitored by internal security forces to insulate civilization from their corrupting influence.
Bribery and for profit lobbying are capital offenses: Any act of successful bribery against any government representative or employee for an amount or item of value greater than $100 Kaltmarks is a capital offense for both the persons offering and accepting the bribe. It can be punished by immediate death, or up to 100 years in prison. Minimum sentence is 10 years, and can only be granted in cases without aggravating factors. Each aggravating factor adds 10 years to the sentence. Any attempt to subvert civil rights through bribery is punishable by death automatically pending due process and necessary appeals.
Sustainable development: We are obligated to consider our long term survival. This includes taking measures to preserve and recycle resources, foster biodiversity, restore damaged environments, and protect critical government infrastructure from weapons of mass destruction. Environmental regulation should not come at the expense of standard of living, but rather, the government should work to improve technology and recycling techniques so that its efficiency is always improving. In those cases where environment can’t be preserved due to the need to expand a city, green spaces should be included at set intervals within large buildings so people can still experience forests and natural wildlife.
Necessity of self defense: All citizens are legally require to own an infantry weapon unless currently under the influence of untreated mental health conditions or subject to a religious exemption. All citizens not meeting the prior exemptions are subject to an 8 year conscription period in the military (starting at age 16 for humans) which will include their later highschool education and early university courses. After the 8 year conscription period, reservists can still be called up in case of a shortage of troops during wartime. 16 year olds do not participate in combat operations, except in defense of their own cities, and instead spend the first 2 years of their military career receiving education. They are not to be used as child soldiers, and are only considered cadets at this stage, only receiving training and education. The age of adulthood is considered 22.